Taken From Me
by Laurenio567
Summary: Natasha Romanoff finds out she's pregnant after years of believing she wouldn't ever have kids. But a child with the man she loves can never be enjoyed the way it should be when she's on the run from the KGB, he already has a family, and she adds a child to the list of people that can be taken from her. Clintasha T for minor language and sexual themes. Pre-endgame
1. Chapter 1

"You're throwing up again." Pepper rushed into the guest room and threw the bathroom door open. Natasha sat on the floor, forehead sweaty.

"Good thing I'm on leave." Natasha stood up shakily under Pepper's weary eye and moved to her toothbrush. "But just in case I do get called in, don't mention this to the guys."

"If it's food poisoning you shouldn't go in at all." Pepper frowned and crossed her arms.

"I've fought worse things than food poisoning," Natasha chuckled dryly.

"Nat," Pepper put a gentle hand on her friend's shoulder.

"Don't."

"It's been a week. Food poisoning doesn't last that long. Have you at least considered that you could be-"

"Don't say it." Natasha Romanoff brushed her morning curls out of her face and stepped out of the bathroom. Her silk robe swished around her ankles.

"If you are pregnant and deny it, you'll be harming yourself and the child. I won't let you do that." Pepper found her confidence and watched as Natasha searched for an outfit.

"You won't let me? You don't have that kind of say in my life, Pepper. No one does except me."

"I'll tell Bruce."

"Bruce? What does he have to do with it?" Natasha shimmied into a pair of sweatpants.

"He's a doctor. He could help you."

"I don't need help. I need you to butt out."

"I'll tell them all," Pepper threatened. Natasha let a baggy shirt fall over her ribs in silence. "I'll tell whoever I need to."

"You don't need to tell anyone anything. I'm not pregnant. I can't be." She gave in and sat down at the edge of her bed with a sigh. The covers were tossed on the floor, a night full of nightmares keeping her body active even in rest.

"I know it feels that way, your life being so out of humanity, but-"

"You don't need to remind me that I'm different," Natasha cut Pepper off, "because I have reminders of that every day. Including the fact that I'm sterile."

"But you-"

"The KGB doesn't like distractions. But my body was one of my best assets for spy work. Their doctors solved the problem. All their female agents are sterilized by age sixteen." She sighed and stood up, folding her hair into a ponytail.

"Natasha, I'm very sorry."

"Don't be. I wouldn't have wanted kids anyway. This just saves me from having to worry about birth control."

"That's a pretty dismal way to view it."

"That's the only way I view things, Miss Potts."

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"Good morning, Mr. Stark. The weather is partly cloudy with a high today of fifty-three degrees Fahrenheit. A detected four human lives are present in your apartment and two more in the lab. Identifying a Pepper Potts, Tony Stark, Natasha Romanoff, and Unidentified. Shall I list your messages?"

"Enough, JARVIS. Where is the unwelcome guest?" Tony opened the fridge, tired of people always lurking for a view of his life.

"With Miss Potts and Miss Romanoff in the fourth guest room, Sir," JARVIS replied. Tony froze. A tiny part of him wondered if something was wrong. If they had been ambushed and somehow Natasha and Pepper would be gone forever. He shook the thought from his head and made his way to the room they had offered Natasha while she was on leave for the month.

"Ladies. JARVIS tells me you're hiding a visitor away. Care to explain?" Tony leaned in the doorway and looked at the two women he saw most in his life. They were looking up at him with confused expressions on their faces.

"What kind of visitor?" Natasha asked suspiciously. Her hand instinctively went to her hip where her knife was.

"Elaborate, Tony." Pepper stood and kissed him lightly.

"JARVIS, room scan." Tony ordered. The group waited.

"The same Unidentified source, Sir."

"A glitch in the system?" Pepper wondered aloud.

"I am fully functional," JARVIS retorted indignantly.

"No offense meant, JARVIS," Tony quickly defused the situation. "Any other information on this mystery source?"

"Heartrate is 135 bpm."

"If JARVIS can pick up its heartrate, you'd think it would exist," Tony grumbled.

"Well while you figure that out, Pepper and I have a few errands to run." Natasha grabbed Pepper's arm and forced her out the door, walking as quickly as she could without running. "Be back later."

"Where are we going," hissed Pepper under her breath as she tried to keep up with Natasha.

"To a doctor that is not Banner. I want an objective eye if they have to look anywhere… indecent."

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"It was an interesting operation you had, Miss…."

"Rush. Natalie Rush." Natasha tried to smile as the doctor read her file. She had opted to go to a human doctor with no experience with S.H.I.E.L.D. It was safest. Her file on Natalie Rush was full of partial truths, including her sterilization operation, just not the reasoning behind it or who performed it. "At the time the operation was considered the best way to stop my irregular bleeding."

"Hmmmm." The doctor frowned.

"I was under the impression I would be sterile for life." Natasha bit her lip and looked at the ceiling. So many nights staring at ceilings like this, wondering what a life with kids would have been like.

"Well, so few people have this kind of operation at your age. It's not designed for people that young. Your body is still changing. To stop irregular bleeding is one thing. But if this was your form of birth control, I have to say that it was not a smart one. Glancing at the surface details of your operation and recovery, I would predict that you were able to become pregnant as soon as twenty years old."

"Twenty?" Natasha craned her neck to see the doctor. "That was ten years ago."

"Of course, just because you would be able to doesn't mean you would. And there's also a good chance that you may have been pregnant a number of times since and miscarried. Operating around the reproductive system does increase the chances of miscarrying."

"How would we know?" Pepper spoke up, eyes full of concern.

"If she had miscarried any fetus old enough to consider it anything other than a period, she would have come in. The body takes care of things like that fairly nicely." The doctor folded a sheet of paper over and considered the next. "But you say that this is the first time you even believed you could be pregnant?"

"I still didn't really believe it. I thought maybe something was wrong but not this. I just thought there was no way…"

"I'm sorry you were so unprepared. Whoever did your operation did not warn you properly of the variations of response. Your body recovered slower than another might, but any person who is very active and has high anxiety like your tests show is more likely to have a harder time conceiving in general."

"So what happened? Why didn't the surgery work?" Natasha was starting to grow nervous. Suddenly the prospect of having kids was growing a lot more possible in the matter of a few hours. She was missing her old womb.

"Any number of things can cause operations to fail later on in the patient's life. We would need to do some more conclusive testing to give you a clear answer. But the most important thing to address today is that you are, in fact, pregnant."

"Shit."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

"Well…shit." Natasha stared down at the pregnancy test in her hands. "Positive," she called to Pepper who was reading over the notes the doctor had given them.

"Well yeah. I still don't get why you wanted to buy cheap drug store tests when the doctor told you already."

"I wanted to see it for myself." Natasha stared down at the five other tests on the bathroom counter. "Five times."

"Six, including the reliable results." Pepper waved the visit summary paper.

"This can't be happening." Natasha collapsed on the bed next to Pepper. "It just can't."

"I wish I knew how to help. But this is just so…strange. All of it."

"Thanks. I think I'd just rather be alone now." Natasha rolled onto her side, facing the wall, willing herself not to throw up. She heard Pepper get up, leaving the papers on the bedside table, and make her way to the door. Pepper paused before leaving.

"Even though you guys aren't together anymore, you will tell Bruce, won't you?" Pepper spoke quietly, measuring her words. Natasha went rigid. Pepper had just assumed that the baby was Bruce's. Well, she was spy and half of lying was letting people believe their own assumptions.

"I'll tell him," Natasha replied coldly. Let Pepper think that she was pregnant with Bruce's baby. Let them all think that. Let them think whatever they wanted as long as they never knew the truth. The truth that she was pregnant with her best friend's baby. Her best friend who was married. Who already had kids, had a family. Who didn't need her. Didn't want her that way. Had only slept with her once and probably only because she was sterile and he was confident he would never have to remember that night again. No, none of them could know that she was pregnant with Clint's child.

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"What are we celebrating?" Pepper accepted the glass of champagne that Tony handed her.

"Tomorrow we bring the crew back together here for a few days." Tony was beaming like he was giving the best news since cup-holders.

"Everyone?" Natasha's voice was slightly higher than she meant it to be.

"Everyone." Tony raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure you don't want something?" He gesture to the bar and Natasha swallowed thickly. Pepper didn't look at her.

"No, thanks. I haven't been feeling well."

"She's still sick, remember?" Pepper nudged Tony. "You aren't being a very thoughtful host."

"When have I?" he retorted, sporting his Cheshire grin. Natasha smiled in spite of herself.

"So why is everyone coming here tomorrow?" Pepper set her drink down and rubbed her hands together in preparation. She was always a very involved hostess.

"Fury has old S.H.I.E.L.D. files for us to go over. Really old database stuff that needs to be deemed worth keeping or not. Boring stuff, but it's an excuse to see each other again. And at the end of the week is the charity banquet. Everyone will come. Finally. I feel like we're always missing at least one person every year." Tony stirred his drink and leaned back, sliding his arm along the couch behind Pepper.

"You've really missed them," Pepper nodded.

"Alright, maybe I have. But so has Natasha." He nudged her with his foot. She raised her eyebrows skeptically.

"I'm on vacation, Tony. I don't need a reunion."

"Right, I forget that you hate all forms of human contact."

"Tony!" Pepper elbowed him.

"Beats having an army of robots as my only friends," she snapped back. Tony smiled and the two eased into the type of conversation they were best at. Sometimes his inability to take things seriously made her extremely angry, but sometimes it was a welcomed distraction. Tonight it was.

"Come on, when's the last time you saw any of them?" Tony pressed. She sighed, getting tired of his probing. "You don't wanna see us?"

"Leave the poor girl alone." Pepper chastised, getting up and carrying her empty glass to the bar. Tony took the chance the catch Natasha's eyes and try to get a read on her. Natasha frowned and flipped him off.

"Is this about you and Banner, because trust me, he probably won't even remember you two had anything in the first place."

"Touching, but no."

"I know that Captain Righteous can be exhausting, but that's no reason to skip the reunion."

"I'm not stupid, Tony. List all of the Avengers. List them in a thousand different languages. I have a mission tomorrow."

"Since when?" Pepper spoke up with slight concern.

"Since now." Natasha called as she made her way upstairs.

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She needed a hot shower and a good night's sleep. Even though reclaiming an important hostage was still on her list as a quick job, she was slower than normal and more tired. She knew why, but chose to ignore it. But she had finished and the people were safe. Well, those who weren't criminals. Now she was just hoping that when she showed up at Stark's, the gang would either be out or in bed already. However, as she crept into her room, she immediately noticed a draft and the balcony doors open. She drew her knife and kicked the door open.

"You're later than Tony said." Clint's deep voice didn't calm her at all. In fact, she would rather have faced an intruder. She self-consciously crossed her arms over her stomach and stepped into the room. Clint was on the balcony, presumably taking in the view.

"I didn't realize I would have company." She set her shoes on the floor and stepped into the bathroom, maintaining her cool. She splashed some water on her face and smoothed her hair down.

"We missed you tonight." Clint was still out there, apparently waiting for her to join him. She wasn't in the mood. She reached into the shower and started the water.

"Work is work."

"You're supposed to be on leave."

"We can't all retire as easily as you," she replied and dropped her clothes to the floor and stepped in the shower. He was her partner. She closed her eyes and let the hot water spill over her hair, flattening it. She remembered many other late nights where Clint sat on the bathroom floor and just let her rant. Or cry. Or just sit in the shower. They would be there, together. Now he was on the balcony. It wasn't appropriate to share that anymore.

"Did he hurt you?"

"Left cheekbone. Stitches. Shouldn't scar." She rattled off mechanically, used to being grilled about her injuries.

"I meant the latest guy you used." His voice hadn't changed at all. He was so calm. So staid. She still admired that about him.

"Define used." She replied as she lathered soap over her shoulders and down her arms. Showers were the best kind of therapy.

"Nat." The use of her shortened name, the name he used for her, made her pause. Just for a fraction of a second.

"Work doesn't leave time for anything real."

"Nat, you don't have to be alone. It's like you've taken-"

"We're not doing this. Not now. Not ever. It's not your job to surround me with people until I can't breathe. I'm not like you. It's not my dream to have that many people."

"One person?"

"Clint…" She let the shampoo drain from her hair. He was pushing again. She hated that.

"Why'd you skip tonight?"

"I didn't want to see any of you." She answered honestly and turned the water off. The soft dripping sound calmed her as she reached for a towel.

"Not even me."

"Especially not you." She could see him in the reflection of her bathroom mirror. His muscles tightened and she watched him fight the urge to face her.

"You were the one that insisted nothing changed." He was starting to sound sad, desperate now. She didn't know how to handle that side of Clint. Didn't know that she could.

"Everything has changed, Clint. But don't let your head get so big that you think it's because of you." She stepped gingerly onto the carpet and made her way to the closet. She felt Clint's eyes on her now. He had given in. The towel was there though. That made it slightly less painful.

"You look tired, Tasha." He had somehow moved to the end of her bed and was looking at her cheek.

"I'm tired of people barging into my room at night when I'm on break."

"You took a job."

"I'm going to bed."

"We'll talk tomorrow?" He moved to the door.

"Don't count on it." She slid into the blankets. "Turn out the light, please."


End file.
